


Alliance Opportunity: Howler Edition

by leonanette



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: AU, Alliance Opportunity, Clockwork Soldiers, High Chaos, High Chaos (Dishonored), High Chaos Emily Kaldwin, Howlers (Dishonored), Lower Aventa, The Clockwork Mansion, Witches (Dishonored)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-14 23:31:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11793723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leonanette/pseuds/leonanette
Summary: What if, instead of hiding from or fighting Paolo, Emily was given the opportunity to ally herself with him before the Dust District?





	Alliance Opportunity: Howler Edition

**Author's Note:**

> This is the partner piece to Alliance Opportunity: Overseer Edition. An AU where Emily is given the opportunity to ally herself with Paolo in Lower Aventa. Mostly because, god damn it, I need more of Pedro Pascal's voice in my life!
> 
> As she was Low Chaos in the last piece, she'll be high chaos in this one. Consider yourself warned: there will be a lot of violence and a very grumpy Empress ahead.

She had half a mind to leap out from under the table and force the stupid shopkeeper to serve her before this Paolo, whoever he was. She was the Empress and, even if no one knew it, she was here first!

Still, Father had told her to wait for the right moment before striking so she waited, tapping her finger on the dirt floor, as three people entered. On the surface, they looked just like ordinary thugs. Sharp blades and mean faces but none had the Outsider’s mark. None had the training she’d had.

They had their backs to her now. She could leap out and kill all three before they realised what was going on. Paolo himself was too busy chewing out the shopkeeper for dodgy merchandise to notice anything –

“Tell you what. You do a little something for me and we’ll call it ten percent.”

“Of course. Anything you like, Paolo. Just name it.”

“I’m looking for someone. Someone new to Karnaca. A young woman. Black hair and a gold patterned scarf covering her face. My guess is that she’ll be coming by to visit you soon. When she does, you tell her to come meet me in the yard behind the carriage station.”

The shopkeeper was doing a bad job of hiding her surprise. Her eyes darted to Emily’s hiding place too many times for comfort but Paolo seemed to enjoy watching her squirm too much to be suspicious.

“W-what if she doesn’t want to come?”

“Oh, she’ll want to come. She did my second a favour the other day and that’s earned her the right to a friendly drink and a talk with me. I don’t make that offer to just anybody so tell her to come. If she comes before moonrise, then ten percent it is.”

“Of course, Paolo. Consider it done.”

Emily kept her position until Paolo was out of the shop. When she approached the counter, the shopkeeper said, “Black hair and a gold patterned scarf. Looks like you fit the bill.”

“Who’s Paolo’s second?”

“Mindy Blanchard, everyone knows that.”

“What does Paolo mean by a friendly talk and a drink?” _I hope it involves stealing bodies and killing Overseers again._

“I don’t know but you’d better go and meet him. If not for my sake, then for yours. Paolo doesn’t like taking no for an answer.” As if acting on a sudden thought, she added, “In case it goes badly, you may want to stock up. I have an excellent supply of munitions here.”

Emily was careful to check every bullet and grenade she bought. She hadn’t forgotten what Paolo said about the shopkeeper’s reliability. Once everything had passed the test, she strolled up to the carriage station. None of the Grand Guard bothered her. They were too busy bleeding out on the ground for that.

All the citizens had wisely hidden so Emily could make her way around the station via the alley. Two mean-looking women leaned against opposite walls at the entrance to the yard. They looked her up and down with near identical sneers.

“Are you lost, little girl?”

“Are you looking for your mamma?”

“The black market shopkeeper told me to come here.” Emily said with an even voice while thinking about all the ways she could cut them a new smile, “Paolo wants a word with me or so I’m told.”

“Yeah, we know. We were just foolin’.”

“He’s over there, on the other side of the yard.”

_Any more fooling from you two and you’ll be on every side of the yard._

The yard looked more like a junkheap with a discarded carriage full of timber and a pile of smashed goods from the opposite shop in the middle. Paolo sat on one of the only two intact chairs before a table with a large bottle of rum and two shot glasses.

“Ah, there you are.” He tried a charming smile but his rat-like face couldn’t manage anything remotely amiable, “And, I didn’t even have to wait too long. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Paolo, the leader of the Howler gang. You’ve already met my second, Mindy, and she’s very appreciative of what you did for her. For myself, I’m more appreciative of the pile of Overseer corpses you left behind.” He uncorked the bottle and filled the two glasses, “That’s earned you a drink on me. Come. Take the weight off your feet.”

Emily sat but didn’t touch her rum, watching Paolo with sharp eyes as he took a sip of his.

“You told the shopkeeper that you have a proposition for me.”

“You like to get straight to the point, don’t you? That’s not how we do things in Karnaca. We like to take our time, talk things out and enjoy the drink.”

Emily was about to take the hint when she realised what she would have to do to drink it.

“If you want me to tell you who I am, you might as well ask directly. I’ve got places to be today.”

“Touchy, aren’t we? You’ve hit the mark, though. I know everyone who’s anyone in Karnaca and, as of this moment, that includes you. The moment you stepped on Karnacan soil, you’ve been making an impression. You’ve carved up both Grand Guard and Overseer alike and turned Addermire into a charnel house.

“Now, most men would look at that and call you just another butcher but I’m not most men. You might have slaughtered the Guard but you’ve never harmed civilians and you didn’t touch a hair on Dr Hypatia’s head. There’s method to your killing and I think I can tell you what it is.”

“Go on, then.”

“You’re going after the Duke. Taking out his supporters one by one and then coming for him. A classic overthrow strategy and one that will work. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? To cut down the Grand Inventor before he can flood the Empire with his clockwork soldiers?”

_He’s a smart man. Maybe, he’d be more useful alive after all._

“So, tell me, when your plan has succeeded and Luca Abele is dead, what then? Are you just going to leave Karnaca a bloodsoaked mess or have you got someone in mind to replace him?”

 _Ah, that’s what he’s after,_ “I haven’t thought about that yet. I’ll figure it out later once everything’s done. Do you think you’re a suitable candidate?”

Paolo gave a small laugh, “Am I really that transparent? Yes, I do. I have lived in this city all my life and seen the worst of what its underside has to offer. I’ve seen healthy men die choking on silver dust, the Grand Guard shoot people in the wrong place at the wrong time and miners being left to scrape a living out of the rocks. And, above all that, I see the Duke and his lickspittles feasting on crab and venison in their high palaces in mansions. If I were in charge, all that would change. The nobility would learn to share or learn to be very scared of me.”

Perhaps it was his calm but forceful way of speaking. Perhaps it was the hard piercing glint in his eye but, at that moment, Paolo reminded Emily of her father. That was what made her take a gamble. She reached up and pulled down her scarf.

“I think I may be in a position to make that happen.”

Paolo stared at her face for a moment in amazement and then gave a small laugh, “Well, well, all my years and I never would have dreamed I’d be having rum with an Empress. Now, this changes things.” His eyes were sharp and he was all business again, “So, Delilah is your true target, is she? So, I imagine that you hate witches just as much as Guards and Overseers.”

“With a passion.”

“You’re in luck. My sources tell me that a little group is on the way to claim Aventa as their own and they have a clockwork soldier with them. Now, it just so happens that Aventa is my territory so I know it down to the last brick. Including a secret about the Clockwork Mansion that Kirin Jindosh wouldn’t want an assassin to know. So, how do you like the idea of getting rid of those witches in return for letting you in on it?”

Emily frowned. She was an Empress, not a brawler for hire, “If you and your men can’t handle killing a gang of women, how can I be sure you would can handle Karnaca?”

“I’m not saying we can’t handle them. We’ve been holding them off our territory for years. I just want to see with my own eyes how you handle them. I wouldn’t feel comfortable sending you to Jindosh without being sure that you’re ready. Nor am I comfortable with attaching the Howler flag to an Empress who can’t fight for her throne and win. Besides, these women work for Delilah, the one who overthrew you, forced you out of your pretty palace and made you go to the underside of society for help. If you’re just going to sit back and let them trample you and your precious Empire unchallenged, we have nothing more to discuss.”

Emily glowered at him for a moment. Then, she raised her glass, downed the rum in three gulps and slammed it back down, “One pile of witch corpses and scrap metal coming up.”

Paolo’s face split into a toothy grin. Emily was surprised to see them straight and normal-looking, “There’s an Empress I can fight for.” There was the distant sound of clanking and fizzing from the street, “And, right on time. They’re here. My Howlers and I will watch the fight and we’ll keep out of your way. Give us a good show.”

Emily pulled her scarf back up, clicked open her sword and, just to show off, Far Reached to the street over the carriage station rooftop. She had an excellent view of the square and the half-a-dozen witches looking around the bodies.

“I believe someone has been here before us, sisters.” One who wore a red waistcoat said, “Who do you suppose killed all these fine young men?”

“Probably Hilda and her posse.” A nearly bald witch drawled, “Trying to suck up to Breanna and make us look bad again.”

“How irritating.” The first one said, “We were robbed of a good fight but, at least, they left us their eyes and their teeth.” She reached over the nearest Grand Guard corpse and got to work digging into his face.

That was when Emily first saw it. Exactly the same type of clockwork soldier that had invaded her throne room. It marched in a rigid line up and down the street, clanking and clicking like an overlarge insect.

Emily balanced on the edge, waited for the right moment then moved off. Her aim was perfect. She grabbed the thing’s shoulder and plunged her sword into its pointed head. The thing shattered, sending amberwood and cogs all over the cobbles, but, to Emily’s disappointment, it didn’t go down. She flung herself away from the spinning blades and, in a flash, the red waistcoat witch, her eyes bleeding black, seized her with an iron grip.

The witch opened her mouth – then her head disappeared. Her arms slacked and the body fell to the ground. Then, Emily had to dodge out of the way of the blades again. The clockwork soldier had killed the witch but was still coming after her.

“Sisters, stay away from the mechanical menace!” The bald witch called, “It doesn’t know friend from foe.”

_So, once the head’s off, it’ll attack anyone near it. Good to know._

The witches were strong with powers Emily hadn’t anticipated but they were no match for hers. None of them had been Outsider-chosen. Emily revelled in that knowledge as she scooped up two witches in a row with Far Reach to impale them on her blade. With clever dodging, she tempted the fourth witch too close to the flailing clockwork soldier’s blades. The last two were keeping their distance, attacking her with strange magic darts that stung like a dozen wasps.

Emily fired at them with both crossbow bolt and pistol. One went down with a dart in her head but the other was too quick. She flitted hither and thither, never being hit and never being tempted to an attack. Emily would have to come to her, which was fine by Emily.

The witch appeared on a balcony and Emily Reached up to it. The witch had nowhere to retreat but into the apartment. Their swords clashed. The witch pushed against Emily’s blade with all her might and Emily let her think she was about to beat her. Then, she summoned a Doppleganger right behind the witch. The witch never knew what had split her skull in two.

Emily took a moment to check her Doppleganger as the witch fell. Yes, her hair looked alright. The image vanished and Emily turned back to the balcony.

Just the clockwork soldier left. She almost felt sorry for the need to throw a grenade at it. Almost but not quite enough to make her hesitate. The grenade combined with the soldier’s whale oil tanks made a massive explosion. Gears, amberwood, screws and scrap flew as high as the balcony, leaving a ten foot soot-ring around the epicentre.

Blood still pumping and limbs still alive with adrenaline, Emily Reached back down to street level, in time to hear loud applause and whoops. Paolo led the impressed Howlers out of the alleyway with a broad grin nearly splitting his face in two.

“Now, that was the best show I’ve seen in years! If I were Jindosh, I’d be shitting myself. I’d better keep my part of the deal, hadn’t I? I don’t want to know what you’d do to me if I didn’t.”

He reached into an inside pocket and handed her a small piece of paper, “When the carriage takes you to Upper Aventa, you’ll be stopped at a gate. You’ll need a code to open it and get to Jindosh’s mansion. That code is changed every day for safety and the Grand Guard are told to memorise it rather than keep it on paper. What the Grand Guard doesn’t know is that Jindosh programmed another code in the gate. One that would not only take you to the mansion but a fair way inside it. He only gives it to his closest friends, those who would rather not be seen by the regular guests. This is that code.”

Emily examined the code and gave Paolo a nod, “Thank you, Paolo. I hope I can count on you again in the future.”

“Certainly. I’ll tell my Howlers not to get in your way if they value their lives and, if they see you fighting, they’ll lend a hand. Now then,” He glanced up at the reddening sky, “I’d better move out of here. I’ve got places to be, too. If you’re ever in the Dust District, drop by the Crone’s Hand. We’ll have a drink.”

 _You’d better have something better than sour rum._ Emily thought rather than said.

She Reached up to the carriage and, deciding to save her strength for the clockwork soldiers, forwent killing the Grand Guard in Upper Aventa to put in Paolo’s code. As he’d said, it opened the gate and brought her up to the entrance of the mansion. Then, with a few grinds and clicks, the carriage and the tracks were lowered down into the rock. When the descent stopped, doors closed over her head and, joined to new tracks, the carriage rolled through a small passage and into another station.

Looking around, Emily guessed this was some kind of basement. Around a corner was a Wall of Light and a Grand Guardswoman. One rewired Wall and pile of Grand Guard ashes later, Emily went through the passage and came out into a room with a vast expanse of glass floor circled with observation walkways. Below it was some kind of maze and –

“Sokolov!”

**Author's Note:**

> In my mind, allying yourself with either faction early will give you an advantage in future missions and, in the Dust District, it will either prove useful to cement your alliance with presenting them with their enemy...or make it easier to double-cross them.
> 
> I might write a fic about that. Not sure yet.


End file.
